Protecting TV and radio audiences from fake news requires a delicate balance of accuracy, impartiality, and freedom of speech, finds Meg Carter , after a series of high profile cases of misleading claims about covid-19
Covid-19 may no longer lead the UK media’s news agenda, but concern about covid misinformation remains. This is perhaps especially pertinent in the broadcast media, after several recent investigations and high profile rulings by Ofcom, the regulator responsible for ensuring standards in TV and radio programmes.
“Covid misinformation has not gone away, particularly around the vaccines and how they work,” says Claire Milne, health editor at Full Fact, a charity that checks and corrects facts reported in the news and claims that circulate on social media. “And with so much data and new datasets created there is lots of room for misinterpretation and misinformation.” In its 2023 annual report Full Fact called for broadcasters to do more to counter false and misle
The parliamentarians strongly condemned the programme for launching an irresponsible attack against Baroness Kishwer Falkner and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Baroness Falkner of Margravine, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission had been subject of vile abuse , amid a slew of complaints alleging bullying and transphobia .